Events

The big-screen adaptation of Gone with the Wind premieres, and will go on to gross $192 million, making it one of the most profitable films of all time. It's also one of the longest films, clocking in at 231 minutes.

Robert Kane introduces the Batman cartoon.

Science

Nobel Prizes in Science

Chemistry: Adolf Butenandt (Germany), for work on sexual hormones (declined the prize); and Leopold Ruzicka (Switzerland), for work with polymethylenes

Physics: Ernest Orlando Lawrence (US), for development of the cyclotron